The shocks come early and often in Rescue Me. But so do the laughs. And tears are never far away.
A splendid comedy-drama premiering at 10 p.m. Wednesday on FX, Rescue Me reunites actor Denis Leary and writer-producer Peter Tolan, who worked together on the comedy The Job in 2001 and 2002.
That series about New York City police detectives was much loved by critics (including me) but had a hard time finding an audience, as ABC never let it settle in one place for long. Tolan said the experience soured him on television, ``because I said, `If we're going to do that level work, and that's the treatment we're going to get, why do it?' ''
Leary drew Tolan back with an idea that, like The Job, involves very flawed people trying to deal with sometimes dangerous work and complicated personal lives.
This time, the subjects are New York firefighters, and the feel of the show is close enough to The Job for Tolan to joke that he and Leary are ``creatively bankrupt.''
But the episodes are an hour each instead of The Job's half-hour, the balance of humor and drama often leans more heavily toward drama, and the shadow of 9/11 hangs over every character. While the terrorist attacks were also an element of the second season of The Job, they are essential to Rescue Me from the beginning.
Leary's character, Tommy Gavin, knew dozens of men killed on 9/11, including a cousin to whom he was especially close and whose ghost holds regular conversations with Gavin. (Leary himself lost a firefighter cousin in an earlier incident and has set up a foundation that aids firefighters and their families.)
Unable to deal with his feelings about that incident -- as well as earlier deaths that he witnessed as a firefighter -- Gavin has wrecked his marriage and fought a losing battle with the bottle.
Another firefighter writes poetry about 9/11. A third becomes enraged over a former firefighter's claim that some of his colleagues who died on 9/11 were gay. Still another worries that the easy sex available to firefighters after 9/11 is drying up.
That last reference should tell you how edgy and surprising Rescue Me can be. The poetry and the gay story lines also take unexpected turns -- but ones that manage to make sense in the context of the show.
``This is a really ripe area,'' Leary said at a press conference for Rescue Me on Friday. ``Not just for the drama, but for the comedy as well.''
He had been thinking about firefighters as a subject since the death of his cousin in 1999. Then, after 9/11, he said, ``I was like, `This is a real challenge. This might be a really interesting place to go writing-wise, acting-wise.' ''
The show tries to root itself in the reality that Leary knows from his experiences and those of people around him. Terry Quinn, the show's technical adviser, is both Leary's friend and a working firefighter in New York.
``I don't think firemen have ever been portrayed the way they really are,'' Leary said. ``I don't think fires have ever been portrayed the way they really are, whether you're talking about Third Watch, or you're talking Backdraft.
``Fires are very dark, smoky, scary, confusing -- controlled chaos, basically,'' Leary said. ``The Hollywood tendency is to light everything up so you can see everybody's faces.''
``I never watched Third Watch,'' added Quinn, ``so I don't know what that's like, but it looked fake from the commercials.''
Still, the makers of Rescue Me knew their raw language, occasionally harsh topics and flawed characters might not please the fire department's officialdom.
The show moved carefully at first when seeking permission to use New York City Fire Department equipment and logos. Tolan said the show sent the department just three pages from a 60-page script. But an episode was eventually shown to the department. And Rescue Me kept the department's permission.
Leary remembers listening in on the screening, and hearing big laughs. ``Then they came out of the room, and they said, `What can we tell you? You got it right.' ''
Inside Rescue Me
